Read start to finish, this series does not describe steady progress, a single villain, or a problem that got solved. Part 12 of 12, closing the series with the full 1865-2025 record.
Category: AT&T and Black America
A 12-part investigative series on AT&T, the Bell System, and Black America — from Reconstruction through the 1973 EEOC consent decree and after. Every part, in order.
AT&T and Black America Sep 28, 2026AT&T and Black America, Part 11: DEI Programs End, Two Days Before FCC Approval
On December 1, 2025, AT&T told the Federal Communications Commission in writing that it would eliminate its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs entirely — and the FCC approved AT&T’s $1.02 billion spectrum acquisition two days later. Part 11 of a 12-part series.
AT&T and Black America Sep 27, 2026AT&T and Black America, Part 10: What AT&T’s Own Board Diversity Matrix Shows
AT&T’s own 2024 proxy statement names its Board of Directors’ race and ethnicity, director by director — and of 11 directors, exactly one is Black. Part 10 of a 12-part series.
AT&T and Black America Sep 26, 2026AT&T and Black America, Part 9: AT&T’s Own Numbers, and Their Limits
Unlike the era Parts 1 through 4 covered, when this series found no surviving written company policy on race, AT&T today publishes its own detailed workforce demographic data every year — in a standardized federal report every company of its size has to file. Part 9 of a 12-part series, covering 2000s to 2022.
AT&T and Black America Sep 25, 2026AT&T and Black America, Part 8: The 1984 Breakup Ends Unified Oversight
The federal consent decree that reshaped AT&T’s hiring had already run its course by 1979 — and five years later, the single company that decree applied to no longer existed at all. Part 8 of a 12-part series, covering 1979 to 1984.
AT&T and Black America Sep 24, 2026AT&T and Black America, Part 7: Did the Consent Decree Actually Work?
Minorities’ share of AT&T management jobs nearly doubled in the five years after the 1973 consent decree — and the unions representing the company’s own workers sued to try to block the settlement in the first place. Part 7 of a 12-part series, covering 1973 to 1979.
AT&T and Black America Sep 23, 2026AT&T and Black America, Part 6: The Largest Employment-Discrimination Settlement in U.S. History
The federal government filed its lawsuit against AT&T and its consent decree resolving that lawsuit on the same day — January 18, 1973 — because the settlement had already been negotiated before the case was ever formally filed. Part 6 of a 12-part series, covering 1970 to 1973.
AT&T and Black America Sep 22, 2026AT&T and Black America, Part 5: Title VII Passes, But the EEOC Can’t Enforce It Yet
For nearly a century, the exclusion this series has documented was legal — a company or a union could refuse to hire someone because of race and face no federal employment-discrimination law at all. Part 5 of a 12-part series, covering 1964 to 1970.